The Hope Trunk: An Offering of Positive Education is a program using the story of the bombing to educate students about the senselessness of violence and the need to find more peaceful means to solve our differences. The trunk, which a school may use for two weeks, contains artifacts, visual materials, and classroom exercises that may be used as a stand alone unit or incorporated into regular math, geography and reading/literature lessons. Shipping is provided courtesy of FedEx.
To order a Hope Trunk for your school, please use the online form.
To preview the exercises that accompany the Hope Trunk, please click here.
A New Generation of Peace
“A New Generation of Peace.” That is the theme students from Salem County Career & Technical High School in Woodstown, NJ, chose to focus on as they honored and remembered those who were killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Since most of the students at Salem County Career & Technical High School were either too young or not born yet when the incident occurred, many were not familiar with the tragedy. Students were introduced to the story and learned about the event through artifacts and materials included in a Hope Trunk sent to their school. Created by the Memorial to help teach students about the impact of violence, the senselessness of using violence to effect change and the importance of personal responsibility, the Hope Trunk is filled with artifacts from the Memorial Archives as well as exercises and lessons to supplement the core curriculum. Schools can keep the trunk for two weeks.
“The Hope Trunk helped the students to see what truly happens when an act of violence takes place, and how many people are truly affected. It touched many of them, and motivated them to express their reactions in various ways. We are also currently working to create 1,000 paper cranes to display in our school to commemorate the tragedy and show our support. The importance of what you are doing is immeasurable.” – Lacey DeBellis, Guidance Counselor
Students created a showcase displaying some of the materials included in the Hope Trunk and developed posters to show that violence is not the answer. Students also made their own version of the Oklahoma City National Memorial fence and placed mementos on it.
Hope Bear Schools
- Cleveland Elementary School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Sequoyah Middle School, Edmond, Oklahoma
- Perkins-Tryon Junior High, Perkins-Tryon, Oklahoma
- Windsor Hills Elementary, Putnam City, Oklahoma
- Cheyenne Middle School, Edmond, Oklahoma
- Madison Elementary School, Norman, Oklahoma
- Swayzee Elementary School, Swayzee, Indiana
- Valliant High School, Valliant, Oklahoma
- Loon Lake Elementary, Wixom, Michigan
- Seven Hills Charter School, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
- Hilton Head IB Elementary, Hilton Head, South Carolina
- Krueger Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
- Canute Elementary, Canute, Oklahoma
- Anderson Elementary School, Wichita, Kansas
- Emerson-Edison Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Phoenix Alternative School, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Glencoe Public Schools, Glencoe, Oklahoma
- First Lutheran School, Ponca City, Oklahoma
- Pretty Water School, Penns Grove, Sapulpa, Oklahoma
- Penns Grove Middle School, Penns Grove, New Jersey
- Washington Jackson Elementary, Wichita Falls, Texas
- Lawndale Elementary, Tupelo, Mississippi
- Mitchell High School, Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Vance Air Force Base School Age Program, Vance AFB, Oklahoma
- Lt. Col. Karen Wagner High School, San Antonio, Texas
- Verdigris Elementary, Claremore, Oklahoma
- Union Sixth-Seventh Grade Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Miss Helen’s Private School, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Ben Franklin Science Academy, Muskogee, Oklahoma
- Meairs Elementary, Garden Grove, California
- Whittier Middle School, Norman, Oklahoma
- Clyde Boyd Middle School, Sand Springs, Oklahoma
- South Breeze Elementary, Newton, Kansas
- Grove Upper Elementary, Grove, Oklahoma
- Magdalen Catholic School, Wichita, Kansas
- Errol Consolidated School, Errol, New Hampshire
- Booker T. Washington High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Moore High School, Moore, Oklahoma
- Oklahoma Christian Academy, Edmond, Oklahoma
- Elgin Middle School, Elgin, Oklahoma
- Piner Middle School, Sherman, Texas
- Ridgefield Christian School, Jonesboro, Arkansas
- Will Rogers Elementary, McAlester, Oklahoma
- Spavinaw School, Spavinaw, Oklahoma
- Canton-Galva Middle School, Galva, Kansas
- Del City Elementary School, Del City, Oklahoma
- Cecil Floyd Elementary School, Joplin, Missouri
- Binger-Oney Public School, Binger, OK
- Our Lady of Pompeii School, Lancaster, NY
- Santa Fe South High School, Oklahoma City, OK
- Allen-Bowden Elementary School, Tulsa, OK
- Lindbergh Elementary School, Tulsa, OK
- Scurry-Rosser High School, Scurry, TX
- Wilburton High School, Wilburton, OK
- Eisenhower Elementary School, Norman, OK
- Verdigris Middle School, Claremore, OK
- Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School, Oklahoma City, OK
- Colcord Elementary School, Colcord, OK
- Berryhill Elementary School, Tulsa, OK
- Tudor Elementary School, Anchorage, AK
- Owens Home School, Prescott, AZ
- Muskogee High School, Muskogee, OK
- Okemah Alternative Academy, Okemah, OK
- Lumberport Elementary School, Lumberport, WV
- Blue Peak High School, Toole, UT
- Willard Grade Center, Ada, OK
- Bryant Elementary School, Moore, OK
- Grandview 5th & 6th Center, Elk City, OK
- Cross Timbers Elementary, Edmond, OK
- Alamo Elementary, Fort Stockton, TX
- La Academia de Estrellas Charter School, Dallas, TX
- Payson High School, Payson, AZ
- Richmond Elementary School, Stillwater, OK
- Madison Elementary School, Norman, OK
- Horace Mann Elementary School, Oklahoma City, OK
- Fire and Emergency Management Program, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
- Tishomingo Middle School, Tishomingo, OK
- Thoreau Demonstration Academy, Tulsa, OK
- Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management, Frederick Community College, Frederick, Maryland
- Cache 5th/6th Grade Center, Cache, Oklahoma
- St. Mary Catholic School, Guthrie, Oklahoma
- Flower Mound School, Lawton, OK
- Pioneer Intermediate School, Noble, OK
- Healdton Elementary School, Healdton, OK